Unforgettable stars Poppy Montgomery as Carrie Wells, an enigmatic former police detective with a rare condition that makes her memory so flawless that every place, every conversation, every moment of joy and every heartbreak is forever embedded in her mind. It’s not just that she doesn’t forget anything – she can’t; except for one thing: the details that would help solve her sister’s long-ago murder. Carrie has tried to put her past behind her, but she’s unexpectedly reunited with her ex-boyfriend and partner, NYPD Detective Al Burns (Dylan Walsh), when she consults on a homicide case. His squad includes Det. Mike Costello (Michael Gaston), Al’s right-hand man; Detective Roe Saunders (Kevin Rankin), the junior member of the team; and Detective Nina Inara (Daya Vaidya), a sassy, street-smart cop. Being back on the job after a break feels surprisingly right for Carrie. Despite her conflicted feelings for Al, she decides to permanently join his unit as a detective solving homicides – most notably, the unsolved murder of her sister. All she needs to do is remember. – CBS

70 out of 100

Well, if you like Numb3rs, The Mentalist or CSI, you’ll like this crapfest, Unforgettable, as well.

Honestly, that’s probably not very fair, though, as there’s nothing particularly wrong with Unforgettable at all, really… provided that you’ve never seen a police procedural before. Unforgettable is just your typical American, cookie-cutter, vanilla, bland police procedural where someone dies in the beginning, the detectives investigate, there’s a couple of suspects along the way and a twist about 45 minutes into it, with a little misdirection and then the real culprit is exposed and in true CSI/Scooby Doo, Where Are You? fashion, they (sans attorney) admits everything and the then lament how they could have gotten away with it. The only thing that’s missing is, “… And I could have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids (or… police detectives)!”

Add to that, the protagonist with the amazing ability that’s unique, but not supernatural (this is where Numb3rs and The Mentalist come in) and you’ve got the typical police procedural with a twist! And, oh yeah… the lead’s sister was murdered and that was the one murder she hasn’t been able to solve (expect an arc on that to resolve it quickly if the ratings start to drop) and surprise, surprise she and the male lead have a professional and romantic history from years past in common.

Really, though, it’s fine for what it is and we try not to rate new shows based on our own personal biases against format, hence the higher than expected rating for a show that we don’t particularly enjoy. There’s nothing original about the plotlines of any of this show’s murders-of-the-week at all but we’re sure this will probably be a big hit for CBS because A.) it’s on CBS and B.) this is the type of safe, generic fare that general audiences lap up.

It’s well cast, the performances are fine, it’s shot well, the storytelling is OK (if not entirely original) and the pace is decent, but then again, it’s hard to screw up a show when your playing Police Procedural Mad Libs (and no, it’s no coincidence that the creator of Mad Libs was the late Leonard Stern, well-known television writer and producer). It’s a good show, but as we’ve noted, dry, formulaic procedurals just aren’t our thing so it won’t be in our viewing stable, but we wouldn’t discourage our readers from watching if they like this sort of thing because we’re sure you’ll enjoy it, but the problem for Unforgettable for us is that it was, well… pretty forgettable.

7 Responses to REVIEW: Unforgettable – CBS (Tuesday, 10:00 p.m.)

I don’t know if I’d put this in the same category as the original CSI – THAT show is still pretty darn good, now that Fishburne is gone. NEVER thought I’d say that about such a fantastic actor, but there it is….

There just isn’t any “umph” to Unforgettable. Nothing really special about it that makes it stand out.

And, it’s going against SONS OF ANARCHY – major strike against it! If it was ON DEMAND, as least we’d be able to watch it, but SAMCRO comes first.

I only put it in the CSI category because of the formula of the police procedural (and the Scooby Doo endings). I’ve never been a fan of CSI because it’s the same show every week… that and the fact that they can’t get anything right with the streets or geography of Las Vegas. It would probabaly help if they filmed the damned show here. 🙂

But, no, as much as CSI isn’t my cup of tea (I will watch it occasionally when it’s on in syndication), Unforgettable is not nearly as good.

BTW, I feel the same way about Gary Sinese on CSI: NY that you feel about Fishburne on the original.

I like Poppy…there I’ve said it! 😉 I like this show, it’s not spectacular but nice, I will keep watching it for now. CSI is not my cup of tea either, tried it again when Fishburne took over the lead but even he could not hold my interest!